What is the best DNS for Android?
We want to make DNS queries on Android.
We are aware of the fact that there's nothing you can do with the built-in DNS servers, and we want to make our own.
Before we start, I'd like to announce a prize for anyone who writes a program (or even just a library/framework) that can add custom DNS servers to your Android smartphone. We expect this program to run in the open until May 12, so you have time to get in on the action! But what DNS server should we pick? Let's review the contenders in the current state of Android's DNS infrastructure. If you're looking for an end-user guide to DNS lookups, skip ahead, but be warned that this article assumes some familiarity with DNS terminology.
Google's DNS servers. When we speak about "Google's DNS servers" we refer to Google's very useful 8.8 and 8.4 DNS servers. There are some caveats though, which we will cover a bit later.
While they are very fast and reliable, Google's DNS servers only perform lookups for domains that have a *google.com record, and they do not support negative lookups in any way (eg you cannot ask "find a website without google.com").
Dnsmasq. Dnsmasq is a free open-source project that provides an embedded DNS cache. It offers fast and scalable DNS caching for use as a local (embedded) DNS service.
Dnsmasq runs as an embedded process and caches DNS requests into memory, rather than waiting for data to come in from network protocols. This means that when you ask for a record, Dnsmasq will return it right away, rather than asking a remote server for a resource record. This might sound weird at first, but it makes sense given that all modern OSes work using DNS, so why would it be any different on Android. You have to ask for the IP address for a name to be added to the cache, and the cache needs to have some space dedicated to storing the results.
This makes dnsmasq a good solution to building our own local DNS server. However, it comes with a few drawbacks.
Which DNS can unblock sites?
I tried many of them but some sites are still not accessible.
How to use DNS to bypass blocked websites?
Most popularly used DNS services like OpenDNS and Google Public DNS are blocked.
But there are other ways that you can use to use open the blocked sites.
In this guide, you will learn how to use a number of free DNS services available on the web and make it difficult for hackers and government to identify your device IP address and trace back to you. The best part is you don't need any paid account, subscription or sign-up to use these DNS services. You can simply change the DNS settings from System Settings Network & Internet Wi-Fi DNS Settings Advanced Options or directly from the network manager. If you are using Android or iOS devices, just select Change DNS from the top right corner of the WiFi hotspot icon. You can then see the option to select from Google Public DNS or OpenDNS servers.
You can also directly change your DNS settings by typing these DNS servers in the text box. For example - 8.8 and 8.4.
What are some of the available free DNS servers? In addition to the well-known Google Public DNS and OpenDNS, there are other good options too. In this section, I am listing the most used servers and explain why they are good DNS servers to use.
OpenDNS is a DNS service with millions of users in India. This DNS service was used by the Supreme Court of India to stop the internet censorship in 2025. And now you can use this for the same purpose.
You can find this DNS server under System Settings Network & Internet Wi-Fi Advanced Options. OpenDNS is very stable DNS service. It provides the fastest speeds among all the servers.
Google Public DNS is probably the most well-known DNS service in the world. Google Public DNS provide a fast connection speeds, but not free.
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